Home > Consumer Reviews > Sharp VC-H965U 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR

Good points: great picture and great sound. That is what you buy a VCR for. Bad points: the motor is very loud (to me, but my wife insisted it was acceptable so I did not return it). A minor (to me) inconvenience is the remote--it does not work with my brand of T.V., and two universal remotes would not work the program function of the VCR; so when we program this one we use the original remote and use a universal remote for all other functions. But you don't buy a VCR for its remote.

I selected this VCR because of all the great reviews it had. I was so very disappointed! This is the most complicated VCR I have ever tried to install and program. I have never had any trouble hooking up any other VCR before and this one was an absolute nightmare. I still can't get it to work right so I will be sending it back. It is far too complicated for someone who just wants to tape a daily show.

After returning 3 other new VCR's for poor picture quality, this machine met all my expectations. The picture and colors are great - largely due to the HQ circuitry which seems to be mandatory on a VCR for a good picture. Best of all, it will play back tapes recorded at EP on another machine (which was having tracking problems at the time) flawlessly! The remote is well-designed and simple to use, logically arranged keys etc. Sharp is no longer making VCR's, so I'm ordering 2 more as insurance against the time when no quality VCR will be available anywhere.

I have had a oouple of Sharp VCR's so far. They've always been good. They do eventually wear out, but all things do. Very pleased. It definitely meets all my needs. I prefer single units compared to combos as if one unit goes, the rest are still working.

I bought this unit based on the 4-star and 5-star ratings found here, ignoring the one-stars about defects (not all new VCR's have factory defects, but it's getting a little worse every day). The Sharp's tuner is visibly noisy -- not too bad, but not as clean as several VCRs in this price range. Playing tapes, the picture is atrocious at both speeds: SP is noisy and ghosty (it looks as if even the ghosts have ghosts!), detail is poor for SP and the picture isn't at all crisp. There's a lot of tape slippage, poor resolution, and so-so contrast. EP record and playback is truly awful -- extremely dark, with obscured detail, video jitter, loss of midtones, murky and/or jet-black shadows. As a spare VHS, it is totally unacceptable. The Auto clockset doesn't work and the channel scan takes longer than my old 1986 RCA. This is my 2nd copy of this unit (I thought the first was defective and returned it). I couldn't even steady the unstable image with a $400 professional Time Base Correction unit. I won't bother to send this one back, I've wasted enough time on it. Chalk it up as a $90 loss, it's even less than one would expect at this price. Many Sharps of a few years back were actually decent machines. This one is a dud.